Road safety charity urges drivers to turn their phones off

Brake has kickstarted Road Safety Week with a call for drivers to turn their phones off while behind the wheel.

More than half a million UK motorists have points on their licences for using a mobile phone behind the wheel, according to Brake.

The road safety charity kickstarted Road Safety Week today (18 November 2013) by calling on drivers to turn off their devices or put them in the boot while they're on the road.

Supported by the Department for Transport, Specsavers and other sponsors, the weeklong campaign comes ten years after using a mobile phone while driving was made illegal in the UK.

In the time since, around 575,000 British motorists have been given licence points for the offence, with one in 15 of these racking up six or more. Four in five, according to researchers Specsavers and Romex, are male.

Meanwhile, Brake claimed 62 per cent of children report having been passengers in cars where the driver was speaking on the phone, while 79 per cent have spotted motorists near their schools or homes committing the road safety violation.

The road safety charity also drew attention to new research by distraction expert Dr Amy Guo at Newcastle University, which suggests that 98 per cent of drivers are unable to multitask without hurting their performance behind the wheel.